THANKSGIVING 2012 GONE -WELCOME CHRISTMAS

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Yesterday was a great day!  Food, Family and Friends – the three F’s – cannot beat it!!!  All that is wrapped up with the laughter which cold be added as a 4th F – frivolity!  A good day.

A final review says that the last minute choices for different desserts was a hit.  Have not made Nobby Apple Cake for Thanksgiving before.  In the fall I usually make a couple of these as the apples are so good and have not done so yet this year.  Thanksgiving seemed a logical place to put it in!  Crème Brule – who knew it would be as good as, and maybe even better than Graham Cracker Pie?  Even better as it was made and ‘fired’ by a budding 14 yr old chef!!!  Walks, naps, skateboard runs, Wii – what a good day.

As I was preparing for the holiday and reading different posts here and there I came across a recipe for cooking a turkey like Trica Yearwood.  I think it was cooked at 500 for 1 hour and sat in the oven for 6 more as it cooked.  I am not sure how that tastes.  Not trying it.  The thing that caught my attention was the lack of stuffing in this recipe.  The cavity of the bird contained 2 celery sticks some carrots and an onion..  I had forgotten that stuffing the cavities of the bird is not universal.  Even less universal now that many are frying turkeys.  By the way my stuffing process was slick as ever yesterday morning.

The first time I ran across not stuffing a bird was a visit to our friends in Arkansas.  We were in the process of moving from our home in Mississippi to Maryland so we were depleting our freezer and food stores.  I volunteered to bring a chicken for one of our meals over the course of our visit.  The bird could thaw on the 3 hr drive to their home.  When I got there I proceeded to fix the bird and stuff it.  My friend inquired what I was doing.  We entered into a discussion of stuffing and I discovered that she had not ever put it in the bird!  I love finding out different information like that.  It had not been a custom in her family.  I discovered since it is not a custom in many parts of our country.  I love the differences!!!

I do not go shopping on this day after Thanksgiving.  Depending on what is going on the rest of the weekend we may or may not put the Christmas tree up on this day.  The tree  IS going up today.  While I await the helpers to return and wake-up I will remember Thanksgivings past over my coffee.

Most Thanksgivings when we lived in Maine were at my aunt’s home.  The Friday after we would go back as my uncle from D.C. would be there with his family.  One of the first Thanksgivings I made in our home in Maine my sister (the next in the line of three) and her family came.  I remember having fun with all 4 adults peeling vegetables and laughing.  She remembers a walk in the snow after.

Another favorite memory of the day after Thanksgiving for me was in 2004.  My folks were visiting us in Missouri for the holiday.  Prior to Thanksgiving we had made the required tour of “my arch” which is how Millie referred to the St. Louis Arch.  This was the first time Dad had to show proof of a knee replacement to go through the gate at the Museum under the arch.  In line he was chatting with people as he does and got the normal response of you do not look that old when he told them he was 83!   It was a wonderful time before and including the feast on Thanksgiving Day!

The day after we decided spontaneously to go see ‘The Polar Express’ which had just opened.  Our daughter and her two kids were back over visiting and it just seemed like a good idea to hit the 11:30AM show when it would not be too crowded.

I was not yet dressed from breakfast so whipped upstairs to get ready.  I came down all clean with make-up on raring to go.  Our grandson looked at me with an odd expression.  He said “Grandmama do you have lipstick on?”  It was a bright red to match my sweater.  I answered, “Yes, don’t you like it?”  He responded, “No, I like plain old Grandmama.”  You have to know what came next.  I wiped off the lipstick and got a big hug!  Great memory.  I am not done.

At the movie we all settled in our seats.  We took up a whole row!  We are movie people.  Some people like sports, others movies and some like both.  For the most part we are a movie family.

‘The Polar Express’ is a fairly dark movie.  Not in plot or focus, it is dark in the lack of lighting and color as it takes place at night.  I really enjoyed it.  It was a bit scary in parts and our 4 year old grandson chose different laps in which to find comfort.  It was the same with his 2 yr old sister.

I was reduced to poignant tears at one point when I looked across to the end of the aisle.  There I saw my 83 yr old movie buff father holding my 4 year old movie lover grandson both enthralled with what was on the screen.  It was a circle of life moment.  Our daughter and I in our youth had been in that very same spot of my dad’s lap.  Four generations of movie-goers in the same row and the oldest was holding the youngest.  It was a beautiful sight.

Memories are wonderful and warm your heart.  Blessedly we are all, from my 91 year old dad to my now 12 year old grandson and the rest of our family, still making more each day!

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

 

THANKSGIVING FOOD

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Today I am going to start to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner.  The Turkey has been thawing since Sunday.  My dad has a real ritual for thawing a bird. In the fridge and out of the fridge and in the fridge or out till it is ready to stuff and put in the oven.  For these few days this bird will dance around the kitchen more than I do!!!

Now I have to line up the veggies and make sure I have everything I need.  We added green bean casserole a couple of years ago to feed those who do not like the squash and turnip and onions.  I am actually glad we did that as it added color.  Thanksgiving dinner in our house is very orange or a yellowy color.  The green of the green beans was a good addition.  Of course we had green with pickles and olives.  Oh and the burgundy of the cranberry jelly.  Still the plate is quite bland if you do not eat any of the condiments.

What is your favorite?  I do not have one.  I like the meal in total.  We rarely have turnip except on Thanksgiving.  I like turnip.  Now here is the situation.  I actually like rutabagas not turnip.

 The rutabaga, swede (from Swedish turnip),[1] turnip or yellow turnip (Brassica napobrassica, or Brassica napus var. napobrassica, or Brassica napus subsp. rapifera) is a root vegetable that originated as a cross between the cabbage and the turnip; see Triangle of U. The roots are prepared for food in a variety of ways, and its leaves can also be eaten as a leaf vegetable.

The turnip that I discovered years ago when I was first cooking our own Thanksgiving dinners were smaller than what I remembered and not waxed.  It was then I found out I was eating a rutabaga.  Grocery store check out people evidently do not eat these often either as they always ask what is this!

The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock.

Another favorite of mine is butternut squash which I eat more than at Thanksgiving.  I love a nice dry squash.  I was not aware of the differences there are in regional butternut squash.  I bought a squash when I was in Maine last year to eat with my dinner one night.  When I cooked it I was delighted to see that it was dry and delicious.  The squash we get in MD (and got in other parts of the country) tends to have more liquid in it no matter how little water I put in the pan to cook it.   The squash qwas so good last year that I bought another to bring home.  When I needed another here I bought from my local grocer and sure enough not as good as the ones from Maine.  What is the difference?

I went to the internet to find a reason.  The only thing I can glean from what I was reading was that the soil temperature was to be 70 degrees.  In many parts of the country it gets hotter than that.  I am assuming it is the soil that makes the difference so next fall when I am in Maine I will buy up a bunch of them to bring home!  So it is a toss of the dice as to what the squash will taste like on Thanksgiving.  I am hoping for dry.

What is your favorite food on Thanksgiving?

Trivia from Wikipedia on this subject:

Foods of the season

Traditional Thanksgiving dinner

U.S. tradition compares the holiday with a meal held in 1621 by the Wampanoag and the Pilgrims who settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is continued in modern times with the Thanksgiving dinner, traditionally featuring turkey, playing a central role in the celebration of Thanksgiving.

In the United States, certain kinds of food are traditionally served at Thanksgiving meals. Firstly, baked or roasted turkey is usually the featured item on any Thanksgiving feast table (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as “Turkey Day”). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, sweet corn, various fall vegetables (mainly various kinds of squashes), and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner. All of these are actually native to the Americas or were introduced as a new food source to the Europeans when they arrived. Turkey may be an exception. In his book Mayflower, Nathaniel Philbrick suggests that the Pilgrims might already have been familiar with turkey in England, even though the bird is native to the Americas. The Spaniards had brought domesticated turkeys back from Central America in the early 17th century, and the birds soon became popular fare all over Europe, including England, where turkey (as an alternative to the traditional goose) became a “fixture at English Christmases”.[31]

The less fortunate are often provided with food at Thanksgiving time. Most communities have annual food drives that collect non-perishable packaged and canned foods, and corporations sponsor charitable distributions of staple foods and Thanksgiving dinners.[32]

If you have not done so already please take a minute and take some canned goods to your local food pantry.  They need it especially at this time of year.  OR do it next week as we have another holiday coming quickly.  In our country right now there is much more need than ever before.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

SUNDAY – LECTIO DIVINA

GOOD MORNING WORLD

On Sundays I like to have a bit of faith in my posts as my faith is such a part of my life – all my life.  I still wear a small gold cross that my Grandfather gave to me when I was born or baptized, I do not know which.  In fact as I write I am not sure which grandfather.  Thought is was Fred Victor Thurston and, since I have always heard only grandfather not grandparents, it could have been Gerald Hodgkins.  It is around my neck and I love it.  There used to be a diamond chip which has now been lost.

I looked at today’s scriptures for us.  The Gospel we are reading is Mark 13:24-32.  It speaks of the tribulation and darkening of clouds and stars falling from the sky and the powers of heaven being shaken.  Oh joy how uplifting!  It goes from the Son of Man gathering his elect, to the fig tree shoots and the lesson it teaches, to the last verse saying, “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in the heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”  Sounds to me like the end of the world.  What am I going to do with that???

Best thing to do is wait to hear what Monsignor says and take from that perhaps.  We have had so many “The World Is Coming To An End” prophesies in our life time.  I remember we were all aware that the world was going to hiccup on Y2K 1/1/2000.  The Mayans have a prophesy that world is going to end in December.  Their calendar ends 12/21/12 and they believed that we had 13 years from 1999 to 2012 to get things right?  The sites to discover this information are varied and weird so I am not going to include them.  There are sites that debunk this as well.  Christmas shopping or not???

I think I will continue to – a favorite quote from ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ comes to mind as Sam answers Dr. Marcia Fieldstone on the phone,

“Well, I’m gonna get out of bed every morning… breathe in and out all day long. Then, after a while I won’t have to remind myself to get out of bed every morning and breathe in and out… and, then after a while, I won’t have to think about how I had it great and perfect for a while.”

I will not have to be so dramatic.  I can just get out of bed and start my day as the world continues to spin. The world is not going to end next month.  Hopefully not for a long time despite the unrest that exists.  So what do I do with this scripture?  Follow me…

The scriptures the old and new testament had much more in them today than the Gospel of  Mark.  The messages today could have been interpreted in many ways.  In the practice of Lectio Divina, which is a way you study and pray the scriptures, one picks a word or phrase and ponders that only for a meditation time.  So let’s do go back to that sentence and look at it another way.  Shorten it to simply ‘…..of the day or hour, no one knows…..’.  What does this bring to mind for you?

I had breakfast with a dear friend on Friday.  It takes us months to plan a breakfast or lunch.  Friday we were celebrating her Oct 30th birthday.  Our breakfasts start at 9 and go until.  Friday I was astonished when I discovered it was 11:30 and we were still at the table.  We talk about everything that has happened to us and the world and our families.  In there somewhere we eat a couple of eggs with sides and lots of coffee.

We were talking about Christmas gifts and she was telling me she was working on a quilt and I was sharing about my projects.  I was talking about my writing and where I was thinking of going with it.  She told me she was writing letters to her children to tell them how much she loved them and share some stories that were just theirs.  What a gift and I had just written  a blog about gifts.

The gift she was writing was one that would cost nothing – only time.  She went on to remind me that her mother had left written notes for her Dad and all of the children when she had passed.  She told me what a hard time they all had reading them after the funeral.  Imagine taking the time to do this when you know your time is short?  I liked my friends idea better.  Write them now.

I actually have done this in my life.  I remember seeing a movie in college and writing Daddy a note to tell him what a great father he was to me.  I have done the same with my siblings to accompany the quilts I handmade for them.  When we left North Carolina and left our two children  – grown children we were not abandoning them contrary to their belief – I did the same and gave them each photo albums with lots of copies of photos for them to have.

As I read the Scripture today I am not going to interpret it as the end of the world.  I am going to utilize it to encourage and foster the fact that the truth is we do not know when anything is going to happen so we are called to make the most of each day.   My friend is full of wisdom. I believe as she shares this information it will foster more love in her family now not when it is too late.

So who do you love?  Who do you like?  Who do you respect?  Did someone do something to impact your life in any way?  Go make a real gift of it!  It is the first day of Thanksgiving week.  Use that as a reason if you believe you need one.  Find a nice ‘Thanksgiving’ card or ‘thinking of you’ card or some pretty paper and tell them what they mean to you.  Let them know now before the time passes away.  As you know I believe I am going to live to 124 so I have plenty of time and still believe it is important to work in the now.  Your choice.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

FAVORITE DAY OF THE WHOLE YEAR

GOOD MORNING WORLD

Do you have a favorite day of the whole year?  I do and it is today.  It is not the date, Nov. 5th, though today is a good one.  Today is our favorite son-in-law’s birthday – Happy Birthday Dave.  It is also the anniversary of the day I cast my first vote in the Presidential election of 1968 in Southwest Harbor, Maine as a registered Democrat.  I brought little pride to my active Republican father with that act.  I was 21 and rebellious – please!  This year, after being granted absolution a few years back, I have already cast my vote for the next President of the United States Gov. Mitt Romney.

Today is my very favorite day.  I like this day as it is the first day we ‘fall back’ off Daylight Savings Time.  It is darker at supper time and that is what I love.  For me it is cozy and warm and welcomed.  It is a time that says slow down winter is on it’s way and here comes a slower time of life for the next few months.  With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming that may not be true in reality – it is the feeling I get.  In fact the first Monday, after we fall back, is not even the first day of this period of time it is the second.

Why do I love this day?  There is no logical reason.  I cannot give facts or thoughts about the why.  I can tell you what I feel on this day.  This day evokes memories in me of Christmas shopping in my hometown with the street lights on and a light snow beginning to fall.  This memory of shopping with the snow falling brings a tingling to my body reminiscent of goose bumps.  It is happy.  It tastes rich and yummy like my aunt’s creamy graham cracker pie.  Remembering this I am enveloped with a warm hug like one from our grandchildren squeezing hard.   It is good!

When this day swings around I want my house all cleaned up.  I try to have it all neat and tidy and the clutter gone.  It becomes a work day for me that I enjoy.  It usually does not take long to bring some order to the kitchen and family rooms and those are the rooms I care about most this day.

I want a nice dinner on the table in the evening.  I no longer have children coming home from school that need a good supper.   Truth be know some of our suppers are now much simpler and may even be just sandwiches!  On this night I still want the table set and a full meal to serve.  Lots of times I make a roast chicken – stuffing and all – for this evening’s meal.  That was when this day was in October.  Being so close to Thanksgiving this year I am going to make a tasty pot roast with veggies cooked right in the juices in the same pan.  I want my home to be full of welcoming odors when the door is open.

I want this day to be cool outside so the warm inside hits you as you walk into the house.  Of course that does not happen every year.  I think I have a better chance of that now that November has the ‘fall back’ date.  It is chilly out today!!!

Writing this all down allows me to see just how silly this all will appear to a reader.  Not to me.  I believe it is a nesting instinct that grows in me.  I am gathering my chicks or nuts and feathering my nest.  Not literally of course.  It is a figurative form of readiness for the winter that is to come and I like it.  I am preparing for a hibernation.

The real deal is that despite the fact that the weather where I live and have lived the last 20 yrs. no longer cooperates with my need for hibernation the feeling still exists.  It comes around each year when we fall back and change our clocks.  The dark night comes  and snuggles me into my home where I enjoy warmth and love.

This day this year I am counting my blessings for all of the above.  There are so many just a few short hours from me that will not be able to share this even if they wanted to do so as Sandy has ripped their lives away.  I am filled with sorrow for them.  I pray daily that their circumstances are alleviated as fast as they can be.

Tonight as I sit in our warm home at our comfortable table with a delicious roast with the dark and cold outside I will remember that all we have is truly a gift from God.  The grace before our meal will reflect our thanksgiving.

…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…

 

PS…I have to add a note of thanksgiving for a special lady who called yesterday worried as my blog was not up – luckily I was okay and fixed the error – thanks!